Docker BuildKit: faster builds, new features, and now it’s stable
Building Docker images can be slow, and Docker’s build system is also missing some critical security features, in particular the ability to use build secrets without leaking them.
So over the past few years the Docker developers have been working on a new backend for building images, BuildKit.
With the release of Docker 20.10 in late 2020, BuildKit is finally marked as stable–and you don’t need to upgrade to use it, you can use it with existing Docker 19.03 installs.
And you might already be using it if you’re on macOS or Windows.
In this article you’ll learn:
- Some of the new features BuildKit adds.
- Some of the caveats, and corresponding workarounds.
- How to use BuildKit on Docker 19.03 and 20.10.
BuildKit’s new features
BuildKit has quite